Lion Rampant – Army Selection

Just thought I would post a list of all unit options available for Lion Rampant I have also attached the Excel version to allow you to copy and paste into a army list for games.

 

Here is the link to the EXCEL version

Lion Rampant Master list and test game

I have not included any of our house variations but would suggest considering for additional cost of 1 pt allowing large unit (18 figure) foot units, as per Rebels and Patriots. These are originally 12 strong units not allowed for 6 strong foot units.

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Lion Rampant – First Game Review

When I sat down to write about the first game I had played of Lion Rampant I struggled about where to start and what to say.

I thought about it and looked at the photos I took and they tell the story.

I was so engaged in the game I forgot to take many photos and when I thought back I remembered why, the game was a real rollercoaster. This is why.

 

Taff came over to play, neither of us had played the rules before although we had both owned a copy.

I had pulled together a couple of armies from my Scottish Wars of Independence Armies

They were bigger than recommended but what the hell.

I tried to lay out some generic terrain that gave neither side an advantage. We wanted a fair playtest.

So off we set with our roster and 12 dice each………..

The first couple of turns we were both unlucky and only managed to move a few units. I really got into trying to evaluate the risk of which order to action the units in  comparing need with ease.

Two units on the right, Men @ arms manoeuvre around the broken ground to run down this rabble in front. A unit of mounted sgts on the left support

Foot Yeoman of the English supported by the Commanders unit advance to secure/deny the ford to the Scots

Scottish Fierce Foot advance into the Rough terrain Their skills of Ferocious,Wild Charge,CounterCharge(Ft),Fleet Footed make or should I say made them lethal.

The Scots moved up all along the river bank. this would force me into fighting in the river but we were English so no issues our knights would carry them away!

Another great unit, no not the Men @ Arms but the Bidowers engaged the knights. This was a defining moment as I saw them inflict a casualty and realised that while the scottish army were nothing much in the open, deployed in the correct terrain they were deadly. Especially with Hard to Target, Skirmish,Evade,Fleet Footed. They drew me in move after move!

English xbows move up and open fire. They killed one but to no effect.

I have no more photos as we got so ingrossed with the game.

The Scottish saw of the English knights who charged acoss the stream and suffered. Some terrible dice rolls by me didi not help (at one point I rolled 12 dice needing 3+ and scored no hits).

The scots did make it across the ford and engaged the xbows and foot and after a few turns pushing backwards and forwards they finally carried the day. I had a units of archers on the left who never caused a casualty all night.

Finally both leaders found a gap in the lines and engaged in the middle of the field, no challenge but we both discussed the merits of issuing one but decided not to.

It took a couple of rounds of fighting and charging and counter charging but they were finally destroyed. the army check morale and they started to fail and flee one after another.

The game lasted 3 hours and we both agreed it was a great nights gaming. We would definately play it again.

I think we will add a few house rules should as:

• no closer to friendly units than 1″ not the normal 3″
• Maybe allow large units as per Rebels and Patriots
• Different challenge proceedure as per earlier post
• Allow removal of Schiltron for foot -1pt

I say a BIG YES to Lion Rampant

All the figures are from my collection, mainly Old Glory, Foundry,Ebob and Blacktree.

Lion Rampant

Over the last few months I have been looking at a number of changes in how I wargame. Most of my collections are large. Unfortunately over the last few months many of my regular wargame buddies are unavailable due to moving out of the area or work impacting upon availability. So the last few games have been smaller than normal. It made me think about skirmish style gaming but I still wanted the ability to play larger games, if and when we all can get together again.

Recently I picked up a number of Osprey rules sets. Some look good and not so sure of but have onky had a quick scan of them.

Last night I met up with a gamer from Exmouth and we started to discuss Lion Rampant. They were a set of rules he had but again had never played so we decided to have a walk through to see if they may offer what we want.

Overall the rules seem to be ok and while they appear simple they may take a while to master. The easy of play will allow addition of house rules if and when needed to reflect a particlar era.

We got discussing 2 areas that didn’t feel right.

• Challenges – like the idea but the process of rolling 3 dice and the highest number of 5 or 6s win. It appears to take no consideration of armour etc. We set about trying a number of option to give what we think would be a more reflective result. We came up with the following:

3 dice as original

3 rounds and the leader with the most hits on them at the end is dead

To hit a general, roll 3 dice needing to roll as if attacking

Any leader hit rolls armour rating or less to save each hit

Leader who has most hits inflicted upon them each round gets a -1 to attack rolls(accumalative) up to needing 6s

• The other thing that jumped out was that all foot units not knights or serfs all have the skill of schiltron. I think I allow certain foot not to have this ability i.e. my English spears fighting their Scottish equivalents at Stirling.

We are planning to try the rules out with figures on the table in a few weeks time.

Legionary 2015 2nd May 2015

The day of the show.

I was up and pack by 6.30am for the drive to the show. Left home at 7.00am and arrived at 7.08am. Hung around till 7.30 when the show organisers turned up. (Must read invite).

The show venue is great. Plenty of free parking and all on the level. In fact as I was one of the first to arrive I was allowed to drive into the venue and park next to the table to help unloading. The other great benefit is that they also have access to a professionally run café. So once I had set up and then the  others turned up, we went for breakfast.

Traders

There were a very good selection of traders.

One in particular that convinced me to part with some money was Charlie Foxtrot Models http://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/

Having sold my Grand Manner builds of Cartentan to fund the War of The Roses collection I was either in the market place for some alternatives that were hopefully cheaper, lighter to carry  and less fragile or sell my WW2 28mm collection including my Dad’s Army troops.

Well Charlie Foxtrot models offered me the solution. A  vast selection of models are already available and having had a discussion with the owner regarding future releases, he confirmed plans for at least a School, funeral parlour and many more ideas.  Please check out their website. http://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/   it is really good and offers tutorials on assembly etc.

The Game 

The game was based around the forces involved at Bosworth.

The boys from Plymouth, Brian and Laurie turned up and along with Nathan they selected the forces they were to command.  Nathan taking the Yorkist force while Brian and Laurie commander the Tudor force. I have to admit that it was at this time we decided that the Stanley forces of Sir William and Thomas would be for show. They can be seen below skirting the edge of the far river bank.

Both side started to advance towards each other and the first to engage were Oxford’s mounted knights against Surrey’s knights. This melee ebbed and flowed for a while until Surrey reinforced the melee. This opened up the Tudor left flank and forced Oxford on to the defensive. Surrey’s troops continued to advance and engaged Archers, Billmen and dismounted knights finally fighting all the way to Oxford himself where he was heroically dragged from his mount and killed.

This put pressure on the Tudor centre which was taking casualties. Shrewsbury tried to turn his troops to support his army’s centre but too late.

Henry was hunted down and killed.

VICTORY TO RICHARD III.

Summary.

Everybody including gamers and viewers seemed to enjoy the game and the rules sparked a bit of interest. With a 1000+ troops on the table it played really well. We did change a few aspects of the rules afterwards and I will publish an updated version later this week.

I apologise for the quality of some of the shots but for some reason the normally reliable camera seemed to be playing up on the day. WSS and Wargame Illustrated were both at the show so hopefully they may publish some better shots of the game.

Below are some shots of the figures involved:

The Table top 12×5 with all the forces deployed

Richard III’s battle

More of Richard’s Battle

 

Norfolk’s Battle. These troops are his son’s The Earl of Surrey

Oxford’s Battle

View down the Tudor battle lines

 

Tudor’s Battle with supplies cart.

Shrewsbury’s battle

 

Shrewsbury’s Battle

Shrewsbury starts to advance

Richard’s troops advance towards Henry’s

 

 

Richard’s battle coming to grips with henry Tudor’s forces holding the central ground

Surrey’s dismounted men at arms start to steam roller through Oxford’s troops.

 

Both sides are moving up to engage

 

Northumberland’s troops close down on Henry in a similar way to Richard was hunted down in real life!

Ricard’s supply wagon provides much needed ammo to Surrey’s gun.

Surrey’s troop engage Oxford’s billmen.

Oxford supporting his archers who have been contacted by Surrey’s Men at Arms. The Tudor left flank after a strong start, starts to break up. This is a desperate last chance.

 

Northumberland’s troops start to advance again, protected! by Burgundian handgunners.

William and Thomas Stanley’s troops

Thomas Stanley ventures across the bridge

Surrey’s troops looking across towards their target, Oxford.

Shrewsbury starts to swing his troops to support the Tudor centre. Too late to save the day though!

 

War of the Roses Wargame Rules- Record Sheet

Here is the next instalment for the Are You Being Serfed rules, a record sheet.

This should keep the need to have any reference markers etc. on the table to a minimum. The only exception being possibly reload markers for artillery.

For this we use the arrow clumps from the Perry box sets placed behind the base and remove one for each reload actioned.

 

Pretty self-explanatory but any issues drop me a line.

Below you will find a pdf version and an Excel version for you to edit if you wish.

Copy of AYBS Record sheet

Copy of AYBS Record sheet Excel

 

Sample Army Lists for War of the Roses rules AYBS.

Quick update.

As promised, I said I would add some army style lists.

Please take them in the style they were intended. If you don’t like something change it and if

you think something is missing please add it.

I will do the record sheets next.

Random War of the Roses Army Generator

Fed up with balanced games or knowing exactly what you are going to command because you have priced it up to the last point. If so then accept the challenge and throw caution to the wind.

As promised, I have developed a way to generate random armies for you to command or defeat.

While aimed at my rules AYBS recently published on this blog, please feel free to amend the cards to represent any other era or rules you like.

I have done versions for Peninsula War , ECW and AWI eras. I am currently working on versions for ACW and WW2.

Hope you enjoy them.

WOTR Random army generator